David Laws, who resigned after just 16 days as chief secretary to the Treasury, hinted at a possible return to office today, saying he missed being in government and adding that "everybody wants to be in the frontline".

Laws became the first ministerial resignation of the new coalition government, opting to quit in May after admitting that he had claimed £40,000 in expenses to pay rent to someone who turned out to be his partner.

Since 2006, parliamentary rules had banned MPs from renting accommodation from their partner. Laws said he had not disclosed this arrangement because he wanted to keep his relationship private.

His departure was lamented as much on the Tory benches as in his own Liberal Democrat party when in his first few weeks in the job he showed he was as keen to cut the deficit quickly as Conservative cabinet ministers.

Until his departure he had kept his sexuality a secret and in the immediate aftermath of his resignation, friends reported that he was so disconsolate he had even contemplated never returning to politics, finding levels of intrusion into his personal life too high. Laws had been expected to keep a low profile until the conclusion of a review by the parliamentary standards commissioner, which concludes imminently, but when he did not attend the recent Lib Dem party conference it was speculated that he had become increasingly estranged.

However since May he has taken part in more public appearances and today he still showed interest. He told BBC Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics: "Everybody in politics wants to be in the frontline … Everybody wants to have their hands on the levers. I don't think I'm exceptional in that regard politically."

He went on: "But I'm reassured because we've got a damn good chief secretary to the Treasury in Danny Alexander.''

He added: "I've bumped into Nick [Clegg] in particular on a number of occasions and obviously I've talked to him about some of the things that I've been associated with in the past, like the schools funding issue … because I was the schools spokesman in the last parliament.

"But I don't think Danny or George Osborne need anybody in the back seat trying to reach over and grab the steering wheel … When they ask for it [advice], I give it."

David Cameron and Laws's own party leader, Nick Clegg, were understood to want to bring him back into the cabinet should he be cleared by the parliamentary investigation. Laws told Pienaar he was still "very close" to his former colleagues. He is about to publish a book called 22 Days in May in which he tells the story of how the coalition was formed and how his resignation came about.